Getting lost using sat navs

Mrs Garth Brooks · 25-07-2012 3:15pm #1

I used a sat nav before for a drive from Cork to Galway. I followed the route but it took me on the back roads of Clare for some reason. It should have taken me three hours but instead it took me four hours. Was there a reason for this or is there something in the settings? Or was i really useless at driving and just took a wrong turn?

The reason i am asking is i will be driving another long route using a sat nav and dont want the same thing happening.

ekevosu · 25-07-2012 3:19pm

How old are the maps for the sat nav?

Was it set to quickest route or shortest route or did you program it to avoid tolls etc?

Check the settings.

Del2005 · 25-07-2012 3:20pm

Make sure you haven't turned on avoid toll roads and motorways. Then choose fastest route.

Did you miss any turns at the start? Sometimes if you miss a turn it will reroute you on the most direct route from your current location.

tossy · 25-07-2012 3:22pm

Also when driving with a Sat nav don't put all your eggs in that basket,pay attention to road signs especially the ones it's telling you to ignore.

MugMugs · 25-07-2012 3:24pm

To be fair, I've been led astray by mine before.

I wanted to take a non M50 way to Naas one day........ it took me to the Townland of Naas about 50 miles away from Naas....

Mrs Garth Brooks · 25-07-2012 3:24pm

It seemed to have been set to use the shorter distance and to avoid traffic. But the shorter distance doesn't make sense. It took me longer!

BUBBLE WRAP · 25-07-2012 3:27pm

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

It seemed to have been set to use the shorter distance and to avoid traffic. But the shorter distance doesn't make sense. It took me longer!

I thought that all roads would have traffic on them.

Mrs Garth Brooks · 25-07-2012 3:30pm

BUBBLE WRAP wrote: »

I thought that all roads would have traffic on them.

Not the roads I was on last year.

jameshayes · 25-07-2012 3:32pm

shortest distance is not always the quickest

BUBBLE WRAP · 25-07-2012 3:34pm

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

Not the roads I was on last year.

Really? Jaysus, I can see a sat nav directing you on a route, which wouldnt have heavy traffic on them. But I never thught they would direct you onto roads with no traffic...

Was it them kinda small roads with the line of grass in the middle?

Anan1 · 25-07-2012 3:37pm

Always double-check the sat-nav's destination and proposed route before you set off.

Mrs Garth Brooks · 25-07-2012 3:40pm

BUBBLE WRAP wrote: »

Really? Jaysus, I can see a sat nav directing you on a route, which wouldnt have heavy traffic on them. But I never thught they would direct you onto roads with no traffic...

Was it them kinda small roads with the line of grass in the middle?

Yeah they were the roads. You would meet the odd car but that was about it. Have no idea why. I thought i was never going to get where i wanted to go.

Redtop · 25-07-2012 4:31pm

Sat Navs are not 100% accurate, especially if they have not been recently updated with the latest maps. Even when updated with the latest maps, you need to be carefull with the Settings as the other poster pointed out. I recommend NOT Avoiding Toll Roads. Yours may have been set to "Avoid Toll Roads" or "Avoid Motorway". As a backup plan, you should always have a fair idea as to what direction you are going and be prepared to question the Sat Nav. It will Redirect you to your final destination even if you take a detour from its recommended route.

bazz26 · 25-07-2012 5:30pm

Using the N20 from Cork it only becomes a motorway when you hit the M20 at Patrickswell in Limerick, you then join the N7 which brings you via the tunnel (which is tolled) and joins the N18/M18 to Gort, the N18 from Gort to Galway is single lane for most of the journey. Having avoiding tolls or motorways set on your Sat Nav would take you miles out of the way otherwise.

As others have said a sat nav is only a guide or driving aid which is not always 100% accurate, you still have to pay attention to road signs and good old common sense.

coylemj · 25-07-2012 5:32pm

'Faster Time' means it will send you down motorways and high grade roads, 'Shortest Distance' means what it says but this will often involve crappy country roads that you'd prefer to avoid.

You also need to bear in mind that some roads are assumed to be good wide roads but they are not. A classic example in Ireland is the N66 between Loughrea and Gort which because it is an 'N' road is assumed to be a wide road with lots of overtaking opportunities i.e. you won't get stuck behind a tractor but in fact it is an extremely windy narrow road with almost no opportunities to overtake slow vehicles.

Tip: disable U-Turns, then if you disagree with a navigation instruction, ignore it and go the way you prefer. The GPS will then recalculate the route from your current position instead of telling you to go back to some previous point.

You can often put a 'via' into a route, a spot on the map that you want to route through, that way you can prevent the GPS from routing you all over the country.

101sean · 25-07-2012 9:21pm

I always check the route it's selected before I set off but often then turn the routing off until I'm nearer the destination if I know most of the route anyway. Saves being nagged at every turn and reduces the temptation to try and beat the Sat Nav ETA

Sat Navs aren't intelligent which is why you shouldn't follow it blindly. Also it assumes you can drive at the speed limit even on a winding back road hence the sometimes strange choice of route even in Quickest mode.

-Corkie- · 25-07-2012 9:33pm

Has your device the latest updates and maps op???.??

I know the road in question I often travelled it pre Ennis by pass and it was much quicker at peak times.

Third_Echelon · 25-07-2012 9:45pm

This seems to be an issue mostly that I find in Ireland....

The problem being... our little back roads that can only fit 1 car-width and have grass growing up the middle mostly have a speed limit of 80 KM/H in some cases... so technically you can do those speeds on the road, but there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of you getting out of 3rd gear on those roads!

Technically the GPS is bringing you down a "fastest route", but it's not really. We need to get our roads graded at a local level, rather than a national level. I do think that is coming in soon....

I have found this a good few times, especially down around Clare, limerick, galway etc where we have a lot of those tiny roads.

Before I start the journey I look at the route it is taking me on the map view and you can kind of tell if they are small roads. I generally continue on and force it to recalculate and go via the main roads... GPS is a guide mainly in rural ireland. Know the general direction you are going and use road signs and stick to the main roads if possible.

An example of this was a few weeks ago. I was down in clare and was on the search for the "Father Ted House". The GPS was bringing me down some dirt tracks. I turned back, ignored it and forced it onto the main routes...

allthedoyles · 25-07-2012 10:00pm

From the South-East , there are 2 main routes to Dublin :

Via Midlands - Carlow - Naas
Via the East Coast Enniscorthy - Wicklow

When I set Sat-Nav to go to Stephens Green Car Park and while continuously driving along the East Coast route , the Sat Nav will forever tell me to turn left at every opportunity .

This keeps happening until we eventually pass the last exit for Carlow on the main N11 east coast .

We use a Tom Tom One

Third_Echelon · 25-07-2012 10:07pm

allthedoyles wrote: »

From the South-East , there are 2 main routes to Dublin :
Via Midlands - Carlow - Naas

Via the East Coast Enniscorthy - Wicklow

When I set Sat-Nav to go to Stephens Green Car Park and while continuously driving along the East Coast route , the Sat Nav will forever tell me to turn left at every opportunity .

This keeps happening until we eventually pass the last exit for Carlow on the main N11 east coast .

We use a Tom Tom One

I was driving Dublin to Curracloe and back up to Dublin again last weekend and I was having similar issues with my Garmin alright...

coylemj · 26-07-2012 12:10am

allthedoyles wrote: »

From the South-East , there are 2 main routes to Dublin :
Via Midlands - Carlow - Naas

Via the East Coast Enniscorthy - Wicklow

When I set Sat-Nav to go to Stephens Green Car Park and while continuously driving along the East Coast route , the Sat Nav will forever tell me to turn left at every opportunity .

This keeps happening until we eventually pass the last exit for Carlow on the main N11 east coast .

We use a Tom Tom One

Why are you using the routing function when you've clearly decided on the route before you start the journey? If you don't want it giving you directions that you're hell bent on ignoring, why bother even taking it out of the glovebox?

coylemj · 26-07-2012 12:12am

Third_Echelon wrote: »

I was driving Dublin to Curracloe and back up to Dublin again last weekend and I was having similar issues with my Garmin alright...

If it's continuously trying to get you on to the nearest motorway and you want to stay on the minor roads, you need to change the routing settings to 'shortest distance'. Better to just not use the routing function ('Go To') at all.

allthedoyles · 26-07-2012 1:33am

coylemj wrote: »

Why are you using the routing function when you've clearly decided on the route before you start the journey? If you don't want it giving you directions that you're hell bent on ignoring, why bother even taking it out of the glovebox?

Look , its easy drive the 100 miles up the N11 without Sat-Nav .

Its only from Stillorgan Road to City centre that the unit is needed .

Whats wrong with setting the Sat-Nav at the beginning of a journey anyway .

coylemj · 26-07-2012 2:14am

allthedoyles wrote: »

Its only from Stillorgan Road to City centre that the unit is needed .

You don't need satnav for that, get in behind a 46A and you'll be grand

arleitiss · 26-07-2012 2:26am

I had same problem, as learner I got thrown out onto M50 by gps, then I thought screw that **** and started driving without gps, learned most of streets now

feeling more confident

Anan1 · 26-07-2012 8:14am

Third_Echelon wrote: »

This seems to be an issue mostly that I find in Ireland....

The problem being... our little back roads that can only fit 1 car-width and have grass growing up the middle mostly have a speed limit of 80 KM/H in some cases...

Garmin units seem to be particularly fond of this stunt, and not only in Ireland. I was once brought down what looked like a cycle track/walking trail in France, barely wide enough for my rented Mondeo estate and with no guard rail and a huge drop off to the right. Not fun at all!

Yakuza · 26-07-2012 2:42pm

My Garmin kept telling me to break off the M6 (while driving north from Portsmouth to Holyhead) to take the A(God knows what) as it might seem be a few KM shorter (even though I've it set for quicker routes and toll avoidance is off). Not a chance in hell am I going to end up winding through Snowdonia to shave a few KM off a 550km journey. By and large its fine, but I don't depend on it (and have a road atlas as a backup). The new car has a built-in SatNav so we'll see how well it works on this year's trek to Spain.

Getting lost using sat navs

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